Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy 110th, Angels Flight!

Today is not only the final day of 2011, but 110 years ago today, Col. J.W. Eddy gave us our beloved Angels Flight funicular railway, which has survived countless ups and downs through the years - literally.

So today, to honor its century-plus-a-decade birthday, the Shortest Railway In The World is offering prices like it was 1901. So instead of a quarter -- You get to ride for a penny!

Interesting, since, when you adjust for inflation, one cent back in 1901 is worth about 27 cents today. But who cares? You get to use up your pennies!

For most of Angels Flight's history, the fare was five cents. According to an article in the Pacific Electric Railway Journal, written in 1958:

"Shortly after the service officially opened on December 31, 1901..."Tickets were cheap and it soon became labeled as 'The 1-cent
Line' because of the penny service. It competed with nobody, except for theunlikely pedestrian who tried to save a penny by hiking up the 207
steps along the Third Street tunnel.

Increased operating costs eventually forced Col. Eddy to consider and then finally raise the fare to 5 cents."

Today, though, the railway will also be selling up to 1,000 commemorative tickets for a dollar. All you collectors in da house!

This year was also a special one for Angels Flight -- in true Hollywood fashion, the funicular played a cameo role in the current movie, The Muppets (A film that happened to be written by a couple of Los Angeles natives and was surprisingly militant in nature at times).

Manifesto

A 100% Los Angeles native, the Militant Angeleno lives in a compound in an unspecified neighborhood of central Los Angeles. His life consists largely of his various adventures around the city, which are documented in this blog. The Militant is also multi-modal and is not dependent on any one mode of transportation, although he is most known for traversing the City's streets via bicycle. The Militant can be described as part-activist, part-superhero, giving the voice to the voiceless and silencing those who just plain whine too much. Partly because of his selfless motives, he prefers to refer to himself in the third person, as the first-person is too self-centered. The Militant is anonymous and goes to great lengths to protect his identity and is aided and protected by an unspecified number of operatives, who are sworn to secrecy as to his identity. Most important, the Militant's ultimate objective is not to be the Militant Angeleno, but to empower and enlighten other Angelenos, so that they may be militants in their own right. Oh yeah, Go Dodgers!

Contacting The Militant Angeleno

Do you have a question for the Militant Angeleno (sorry, all questions regarding his identity will be ignored)? Would you like to send hate mail (or love mail, even)? Do you want to know how you can join the Angeleno Militia? Here's how!